University of Harare forced to close as Zimbabwean students riot

Hungry students protest as cash-strapped university cannot provide any food

Security guards had to call riot police to calm the demonstrations Photo: (AFP)

By Peta Thornycroft, Johannesburg

8:05PM GMT 18 Mar 2015

The university of Zimbabwe was forced to close earlier this week after thousands of students stormed its buildings, protesting at the lack of food in their halls of residence.

Lodging fees at the universityinclude cooked food, usually maize meal known as sadza, vegetables and gravy. Red meat has been off the menu for a couple of years because of the university's ailing finances.

But on Monday a shortage of cash saw the student canteen closed. In protest, students stormed a staff dining hall and other office buildings. Some students launched an impromptu march on a suburban street nearby, according to one person who was driving past the campus at the time.

The university's professors have complained their wages have gone unpaid. The university ran out of cash at the end of January, but managed to scrape enough together last month to pay some salaries.

Security guards had to call riot police to calm the demonstrations while Sergeant Chevo, the registrar, swiftly issued a communiqué which closed the campus, including residences.

With no access to their rooms at the university, many students who live far from Harare, immediately became homeless.

During the period it was closed, Manyaradzi Madambi, a lawyer for the students, demanded that students be allowed to return to their residences, as closing them down, would “expose them to criminals on the streets, and prostitution among other evils which may visit them in their desperate situation.”

The court threat worked and the students were allowed back late on Wednesday when University of Zimbabwe vice chancellor Levi Nyagura suddenly reopened the university.

“Resident students should return to their hostels immediately and attend lectures as usual," he said in a statement released to students' solicitors.

Several academics in Harare said they believe the government urgently released enough money to pay striking lecturers' outstanding salaries and buy food for students who live in residences on the campus.

Gilbert Mutubuki, the president of Zimbabwe's National Students Union said students protested because of deteriorating standards at the university. “Today there is no food at the university, the chefs are on strike, the lecturers are on strike and all departments are closed. We paid fees to learn and our money is misused.”

He said students do not get enough food to live on and many lecturers were unpaid for several months.

Referring to Robert Mugabe’s extravagant 91st birthday party at Victoria Falls three weeks ago, he said: “They donated our money to the president’s party, yet workers here, at the university have not been paid and we are hungry."

A senior lecturer said: “The situation is bad at the university because the economy is in trouble. Parts of UZ barely function and we are regularly without water. Some of the students are very thin.”

Students are not the only hungry people living in public institutions in Zimbabwe. Five long-term prisoners at Chikurubi, the top security prison on the eastern edge of Harare died a week ago after police broke up a food riot inside the high walls of the jail.

Prison authorities said four of the dead men died from gunshot wounds. About a dozen thin Chikurubi prisoners who were injured during the riot are still in hospital.